How to Take Running Running Records are taken to: Records

[Pages:12]Running Records are taken to: ?guide teaching ?match readers to

appropriate texts ?document growth

overtime ?note strategies used ?group and regroup

children for instruction

How to Take Running Records

(adapted from Alphakids Assessment Kit Teacher's Guide)

Running Records capture what children know and understand about the reading process.They capture children's thinking. Running Records provide you with an opportunity to analyze what happened and plan appropriate instruction. From Running Records, you have evidence of what the child is able to do, ready to learn, and learning over a period of time. Noted researcher Marie Clay designed this very effective and widely used tool.

A Running Record is not just the recording of right and wrong words. It requires observing all behaviours to help determine the "thinking process" children are using as they read the text.A correct response does not necessarily reveal the thinking a child is using unless they have verbalized or shown through body language (e.g., eyes go to the picture, finger moves back across the text) their mental processing. A Running Record provides you with a playback of an entire oral reading conference, including the smallest details on the reader's attitude, demeanour, accuracy, and understanding.With this information, you can analyze behaviours, responses, competencies, initiatives taken, and in turn, determine instructional needs.You are therefore encouraged to record all behaviours children display during reading conferences. Running Records are also a critical piece of assessment for the formation of dynamic (changing regularly) guided reading groups, and allow for the selection of "just right" texts and the teaching of appropriate strategies. Running Records allow you to document progress over time when an initial or baseline record is compared to a more recent one.

Taking a Running Record

To take a Running Record, sit beside a child as he or she reads a selected portion of the text aloud in a natural and relaxed environment. It is necessary to select a time when you can hear the child read without interruptions, such as when children are engaged in quiet reading or on independent literacy activities. Observe and record everything the child says and does during the reading.You will find yourself noticing more and more about children's reading behaviours each time you take a Running Record. Because there is a set code for recording, all teachers can understand and then discuss, analyze, and plan teaching strategies for the child or small groups of children.

Recording

The following conventions provide a consistent approach to recording reading behaviours. (Based on Clay 1993, Kemp 1987, and Goodman & Burke 1972) With these notations, every effort the child makes is recorded in detail. For a readily available recording sheet, see page 12.

Behaviour

Notation

Example

Correct response

Mark every word read correctly with a check mark.

SubstitutionWrite the spoken word above the word in the text.

Can you see my eyes?

the Can you see my eyes?

OmissionPlace a dash above the word left out. Can you see my eyes?

InsertionInsert the added word and place a dash big

below it (or use a caret).

Can you see my eyes?

AttemptWrite each attempt above the word in the text.

e-ey Can you see my eyes?

RepetitionWrite R after the repeated word/phrase

and draw an arrow back to the

R

beginning of the repetition.

Can you see my eyes?

Appeal*

Write A above the appealed word.

(asks for help)

A Can you see my eyes?

Told word

Write T beside the word supplied

for the reader.

Can you see my T eyes?

Self-correction

Write SC after the corrected word.

the/SC Can you see my eyes?

*An appeal for help from the child is turned back to the child for further effort (e.g., Say: You try it. If the child is unsuccessful, the word is teacher-given (told word).

Note

Insertions add errors. A reader could have more errors than there are words on a line. However, a reader cannot have more errors than words on a page.

Scoring a Running Record

You can use the following scoring to assess a child's performance.

1.Count only the running words in a text. Running words do not include titles, subtitles, captions, and so on.

2. Count as one error: a substitution an omission an incorrect attempt an unsuccessful appeal a told word an insertion

Do not count:

self-corrections

repetitions

a correct attempt

a successful appeal words pronounced

differently in a child's dialect or accent

3. Count each word in a skipped line as an error.

4. Count a skipped page as one error and subtract the word count for that page from the total word count.

5.Count proper nouns read inaccurately only once. Count other words read inaccurately each time.

6.Calculate the Percent of Accuracy for a record by subtracting the total number of errors made from the number of running words in the text.The answer will then be divided by the number of running words.

Calculating Percent of Accuracy

1. Running Words ? Total Errors = Score

?

=

2. Score Running Words 100 = % Accuracy

100 =

%

7.Determine the Self-Correction Rate for a record.The SelfCorrection Rate indicates how well a child self-monitors his or her reading. Calculate this rate by adding the total number of errors to the total number of self-corrections and dividing this sum total by the total number of self-corrections. For example, six total errors plus two self-corrections equals eight. If you divide eight by the total number of self-corrections, the answer is four. The self-correction rate is then recorded as 1:4, which shows the child self-corrected one time for every four words misread.

A Self-Correction Rate of up to 1:5 shows the child is selfmonitoring and using decoding strategies.

Calculating Self-Correction Rate

1.Total Errors + Total Self-Corrections = Sum Total

=

2. Sum Total ? Total Self-Corrections = Rate

=1:

8.Once you have calculated the Percent of Accuracy and the SelfCorrection Rate, you can determine whether the reading level for that book is easy, instructional, or hard for for a particular reader.

Understanding Percentages

Easy Text (96-100%)

Move child to higher text level.

Appropriate Instructional Text (93-95%)

A comfortable instructional text level.

Challenging Instructional Text (90-92%)

Child may require more direct support.

Hard Text (Below 90%)

Move child to lower level.

Self-Monitoring Strategies ? i gnored obvious errors ? p aused/stopped ? r epeated word(s) ? t ried something else ? s elf-corrected ? s elf-corrected and

re-read to confirm ? i ntegrated cueing systems

( M, S , V)

Easy Texts (96-100%)

When children read an easy text, they are able to read for enjoyment and meaning. There are no decoding challenges. Easy texts are appropriate for independent reading.

Appropriate Instructional Texts (93-95%)

These texts are selected by you, and have many supports and very few challenges for the reader. They are at the higher-end of what Clay has identified as Instructional Texts (90-95%). Because you are usually working with a group of children and not individuals, it is difficult to match texts appropriately to the background knowledge and instructional strategies of an entire group.These texts are appropriate for guided reading.

Challenging Instructional Texts (90-92%)

These texts can be more challenging for a child or group of children. A text at this percentage may require too much work. A guided reading text should provide only one or two challenges and be a supported, comfortable read.

Hard Texts (Below 90%)

These texts have too many challenges for children to read.

Analyzing Reading Behaviours

Once a record of a child's reading has been taken, it is necessary to analyze the strategies, cues, and behaviours he or she is using (or not using).

When analyzing a child's reading performance, it is your "best guess" (using all the knowledge gathered about the child) of the process or "reading thinking" that is happening.To acquire a useful analysis, it is important to determine whether readers are using meaning cues, structural cues, or visual cues.

Integrating the Cueing Systems

Meaning Maker Does it

make sense?

Structural Code

Breaker Does it

soundright?

Visual Code Breaker Does it look right?

M

Note

The same cue can be used while making and self-correcting an error.

Meaning Cues

Meaning cues relate to a reader's ability to gather a book's basic message by making meaning of it at the text, content, and word level. If readers are using meaning cues, they think and evaluate what they read.They check whether the sentence "makes sense." Meaning-appropriate errors (miscues) do not interrupt the general comprehension of the sentence or paragraph.A meaning miscue may be syntactically appropriate, but may not have a letter-sound correlation.

When analyzing a Running Record or Record of Reading Behaviours, it is important to look at all the errors the child makes. For each error, answer the following question: Does the child's attempt make sense considering the story background, information from pictures, and meaning in the sentence? If the answer is yes, the child has used meaning cues, and is M circled in the error column.

When dealing with self-corrections, consider what caused the child to make the error in the first place. If meaning cues were being used while the error was made, M is circled in the error column.Then consider what cues the child used to self-correct. If meaning cues were used for the self-correction, M is circled in the self-correction column.

woods There are many trees in the forest.

Cues Used M SV

In this example, the reader substituted woods for forest.With this substitution, the sentence still makes sense and sounds right.Therefore, the reader used both meaning M cues and structural S cues. However, the reader did not use visual cues since the words do not resemble each other in any way.

S Structural Cues

Readers who use structural cues are relying on their knowledge of the grammar and structure of the English language to make the text sound right. Using this knowledge, readers check whether or not the word or sentence sounds right.

When analyzing a Running Record or Record of Reading Behaviours, it is important to look at all the errors the child makes. For each error, answer the following question: Does the child's attempt sound right considering the structure and syntax of the English language? If the answer is yes, the child has used structural cues, and S is circled in the error column.

When dealing with self-corrections, consider what caused the child to make the error in the first place. If structural cues were being used while the error was made, S is circled in the error column. Then consider what cues the child used to self-correct. If structural cues were used for self-correction, S is circled in the self-correction column.

V Visual Cues

Visual information includes the way letters and words "look." Readers use their knowledge of the visual features of words and letters and then connect these features to their knowledge of the way words and letters sound when spoken.

When analyzing a Running Record or Record of Reading Behaviours, it is important to look at all the errors the child makes. For each error, answer the following question: Does the child's attempt visually resemble in any way the word in the text (e.g., begins and/or ends in the same letter)? If the answer is yes, the child has used visual cues, and V is circled in the error column.

When dealing with self-corrections, consider what caused the child to make the error in the first place. If meaning cues were being used while the error was made, V is circled in the error column.Then consider what cues the child used to self-correct. If visual cues were used for self-correction, V is circled in the self-correction column.

poor I swim in a pool.

Cues Used

M SV

In this example, the reader substituted poor for pool. With this substitution, the sentence does not make sense nor does it sound right based on the grammar and syntax of the English language. However, the two words resemble one another visually, so the reader used visual V cues.

Note

Readers should be using more than one cueing system at a time.

Strategies To Look for While Children Are Reading: ? Looking at the pictures. ? Questioning whether

it makes sense, sounds right, and looks right. ? Finding little words in big words. ? Reading to the end of the sentence. ? Looking at the punctuation marks.

The goal for readers is to integrate the cueing systems while reading for meaning. For example, a child might look at a word, make the sound of the first letter, think of a word that would make sense, sound right, and match the visual features of the word.This child has initially used visual information, thought about meaning and structure, and then checked the prediction against visual information.This happens quickly, and the child's focus remains on meaning.

Self-Monitoring Strategies

After all errors and self-corrections are analyzed, you should also reflect on the following to help assess a reader's self-monitoring strategies to guide further instruction:

4Does the reader repeat what he or she has read as if to confirm the

reading so far?

4Does the reader notice when cues do not match? 4D oes the reader pause as if he or she knows something does not

match but seems to not know what to try?

4Does the reader request help (appeal) frequently? after several

attempts?

4Does the reader rely on only one cue, or does the reader integrate

cues?

4D oes the reader check one cue against another? 4D oes the reader read with phrasing and fluency?

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